Pick & Mix 44 – some things to ponder while you practice social distancing

The Swiss do more than make cuckoo clocks – they (well some of them) subvert maps J

Great summary of the latest special issue in Insect Conservation & Diversity by Manu Saunders

We need to get out more – interesting paper on the health benefits of being outside and getting dirty

Interesting post from Miles King on education and his thoughts about why it should be student centred rather than league table centred and include getting outside more

Will the Covid-19 epidemic have a silver lining for the green economy?  Not necessarily writes James Murray of BusinessGreen

Something to visit when the pandemic is over – The Linnean Society celebrates the achievements of their first female fellows

Something to help you get through these days of social distancing – watch these springtails jump and then go outside and find some yourself, but do keep away from other peopel

The ecological mystery of a Stink Bug swarm far out to sea – what does it tell us about colonisation of the Galapagos Islands?

Somewhat related is this old post of mine about long distance migration in aphids

Finally, if you haven’t come across the word defining site Sesquiotica, I can definitely recommend it, sometimes poetry, sometimes prose, but always enlightening

 

 

Pick & Mix 43 – more snippets from the web

Manu Saunders on the rights and wrongs of altmetrics and other measures of impacts

From a few years ago, but worth a read,  How Birds are Fooled by Ladybird Mimicry and Why Spiders are Amazing

I had never heard of this plant – interesting post from Markus Eichhorn – Kratom – when ethnobotany goes wrong

Megan Duffy on the work-life balance conundrum.  Something we should all think hard about.

Insect numbers may be in decline but some are expanding their ranges – latest research from Charlie Outhwaite and colleagues shows that not all is doom and gloom, although as you might expect, it is not simple

A whole issue of the journal Insect Conservation & Diversity is dedicated to the subject of insect declines and otherwise, and what we might do about it. Free to access for a year.

Do bees have consciousness?  Not proven yet but Lars Chittka thinks that the fact that they can solve Molyneux’s problem may suggest they might

On the other side of the coin, in an attempt to reduce insect numbers, in this case the Diamondback moth, entomologists in the USA report on the first field release of a genetically modified, self-limiting insect

The end of farming? Interesting read but can this approach feed the world?

Cover letters – why bother? I don’t so why should you?